Bunch Of Spinoffs
September 6th, 2017 by Proprietor
Unlike the backdoor attempt at a spinoff with the Kelly Family, when the Brady Bunch went off the air, and on to global syndication, there were several attempts to relaunch the show due to popularity in syndication. Unfortunately relighting a match, especially a wet one, is not easy.
The Brady Kids
The first attempt was a cartoon which had the original children’s actors voicing the characters, but by season 2, Marcia and Peter were replaced. The cartoon was cheesy, and rather than have Tiger as the dog, a dog called Mop Top was added as were twin pandas, Ping and Pong. It was a typical 70s cartoon for Saturday morning, not real high art on story telling or concept, but basic entertainment for kids loading up on sugar from breakfast cereals and preparing to play all day.
The Brady Bunch Hour
Capitalized on the popularity of the family variety show format as entertainment. Donny and Marie Osmond and the Osmonds were doing well, so why not tap a resource that might have some valuable nuggets of entertainment. Except for Eve Plumb (Jan), the original cast made a valiant attempt at the show. It lasted 9 episodes.
In a sort of spinoff movie that launched a spinoff of it’s own, a double spinoff, involved the two oldest Brady women, Jan and Marcia.
The Brady Girls Get Married
It was a made for TV movie, and a possible revival for the Brady Bunch. Jan was getting married, Marcia could not let herself be beat out by her younger sister. Jan married a college professor. Marcia married a salesman, who turned out to be a bum. Trophy wife status nullified. It had the whole original cast return and make appearances, oddly, no Cousin Oliver, and it launched a new show.
The Brady Brides
Followed the lives of Jan and Marcia living together in the same house with their husbands, after having married, the show revolved around the conflicts between the two sisters and their spouses who were odd couples. The two couples even ended up on the Newlywed Game. It was also revealed Alice had married Sam, and moved out of the Brady house. The show lasted six episodes. It looked like the Brady train had run out of steam.
A Very Brady Christmas
The Brady Bunch is spread through out the country, and the children had children, were leading lives of their own. Mike and Carol had careers, and an empty nest. Rather than try and travel to one of their children for Christmas, Mike and Carol were going to surprise each other with a special trip abroad during Christmas, when it turned out Mike and Carol were draining the account and at the travel agency at the same time, there was a flash of an idea. Take the money from the trip and bring back all their children, and grandchildren for a big Christmas special. Susan Olsen did not appear as Cindy. Sam turns out to be a cad, and Alice returns to living with the Brady’s. As does Marcia, her husband, and two children. Sam returns dressed as Santa, and asks for Alice’s forgiveness, sadly she takes him back. Mike almost dies in a construction accident. The Brady kids reveal some secrets, and a stage was set for another possible Brady spinoff.
The Bradys
It was an attempt to move the Brady Bunch from comedy to drama. Instead of a half hour situational comedy, the show was going to deal with more serious topics, and though light hearted, it was drama. Bobby ends up paralyzed due to an accident while driving a race car. Peter ends up in an abusive relationship. Marcia has a drinking problem. The Brady house was going to be demolished for a freeway. Mike launches a political career. The original cast made appearances, except Marcia is not played by Maurine McCormick. The show lasted six episodes. The six episodes are at times repackaged as a two hour movie.
Eventually the television relaunching ended, with Robert Reed’s passing. The torch was passed to movie parodies of the show. The family became an anachronism, and some of the rivalries, as well as character flaws of the children were amped up in the movies. Unfortunately Mike became a shallow parody, an almost half wit buffoon, while Carol became a more domineering harpy.
The Brady Bunch Movie
It was a relaunch and parody of the Brady Bunch television show. It was an anachronistic concept recast and with a simple plot of the Brady’s possibly losing their home, in the end the Brady’s succeed in keeping their home.
A Very Brady Sequel
The anachronistic Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii, because Carol’s long lost first husband Roy Martin shows up. It is a con to get an ancient artifact from Carol. The twist is Carol’s lost husband was the Professor from Gilligan’s Island.
The Brady Bunch In The White House
The final movie staring the anachronistic Brady Bunch family, there is a crisis. Mike is chosen as Vice President, but the President resigns before beings sworn in. Mike is now president, and choose Carol as his Vice President. The whole show is a play on Mike’s political career in the sequel, the Brady’s.
There has always been some sort of love for the Brady Bunch, one of the widest syndicated shows in the world. Except every attempt to relaunch or sequel the show has failed. Even though the original cast has appeared multiple times, the premise has been altered. The movies are a deliberate parody and made no bones about that. With the passing of Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis, and the aging of the children, it would be hard to do anything of significance. Unless the original children are brought back as parents and grandparents, having a Brady Next Generation and it was a drama comedy of sorts, well, who knows.
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